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2013 Constitutional crisis of An Móir Leautheinn
The 2013 Constitutional crisis of An Móir Leautheinn was a constitutional crisis that took place in the Rockallic viscountcy of An Móir Leautheinn following the abolition of the judiciary and subsequent implementation of so-described "Draconian" laws by His Lordship's Government of An Móir Leautheinn on 26 January 2013, following the 2012 elections in which the Natural Law First party received a majority of the seats in the Legislature of An Móir Leautheinn. The Constitutional crisis saw large numbers of inhabitants as well as the Viscount of An Móir Leautheinn and His Lordship's Most Loyal Opposition fleeing the Viscountcy to form a government in exile. The Barony of Gléaoinnenoileun temporarily seceeded from the Viscountcy following the implementation of the "Draconian" laws to become a political anomaly within the Earldom until the end of the crisis. Women and children who remained within the Viscountcy because of an inability to leave through either patriarchal or governmental forceful restriction or lack of resources to travel. The constitutional crisis saw the population of the Viscountcy decreasing from approx. 432,000 inhabitants to less than 40,000. The crisis ended on 7 July 2013, when the Supreme Court of the Seafaring Confederation ruled in the case Official Opposition of the Legislature of South (Highlands) vs. Official Government of the Legislature of South (Highlands) 23110 989 (2013) 39281 666 7 that His Lordship's Government had violated several constitutions, laws and rights, and ordered the immediate death of the administration. Confederate troops immediately headed for the State and executed the Government. Background 2012 elections In the 2012 elections of An Móir Leautheinn, the newly formed Natural Law First party gained 83 of the 110 seats, thus held a majority in the House of Representatives and thereby a majority in the Legislature of An Móir Leautheinn. They were elected on their promises to battle inequalities and provide full legal benefits to financially troubled people, a promise that was met with appreciation in the poorest Viscountcy of the Rockall. On 3 December the newly elected Legislature was inaugurated under an oath to pledge allegiance to the Constitutions of An Móir Leautheinn, Rockall and the Seafaring Confederation. The largest party now had the right to form a government. Formation of government The Natural Law First party immediately started appointing several party members to official positions and elected Daoibheann Déainnegruid Prime Minister. The Viscount, The Rt Hon. Léaibhoin Treaidicheait, as required by the Constitution, accepted the new government and inaugurated it on 20 December 2012. Controversies Already before the inauguration several members of His Lordship's Most Loyal Opposition indicated that they had heard the members of the Natural Law First party discussing the termination of constitutional rights. These allegations however were brushed off by the population and the media, one newspaper in the Highlands saying that they were "bad losers". As the Legislature convened again after the Christmas break, His Lordship's Most Loyal Opposition warned that His Lordship's Government was going to pass radical legislation that could become a danger to the Viscountcy, the nation and even the Confederation. These calls were again brushed off as untrue and unfounded. It was later found that prior to the abolition of the judiciary on 26 January 2013, several members of the Natural Law Party had abducted and enslaved several women and girls ranging from ages 6 to 41 to be used as sex slaves in the Legislature. That this had gone unnoticed sparked public outrage and several law enforcement agencies in the Viscountcy were replaced with their Confederate counterparts. Constitutional crisis Abolition of the judiciary On 26 January 2013, His Lordship's Government passed a law with immediate effect that abolished the judiciary of the Viscountcy of An Móir Leautheinn. The move came completely unexpected and received widespread criticism from all governmental branches and institutions. His Lordship's Most Loyal Opposition went to the District Court of Nuardhtheaobhoinn to seek an injunction on the law, but since the law abolished the judiciary, there was nothing the District Court could do. By 22:00 on 26 January, all Judges and Justices had fled the Viscountcy, having been rendered powerless by His Lordship's Government and fearing prosecution by the very same government. The Judges and Justices kept their titles and became a "judiciary in exile", locating themselves in various towns and baronetcies in An Thir na tÁirdteachd and Cóste Ígheainne. The only place where the judiciary was still kept intact was the Barony of Gléaoinnenoileun, which kept hanging onto its isolationist nature. The Judges of the High Court of Rockall representing the Viscountcy of An Móir Leautheinn kept their position on the High Court, but had their titles changed to "Representative to the High Court of the Most Preferable Earldom of the Island of Rockall for An Móir Leautheinn insofar as the Constitution so Requires" to reflect the current status of the judiciary in An Móir Leautheinn. For the same reason the Justice for An Móir Leautheinn to the Supreme Court of the Seafaring Confederation retained his seat, officially becoming known as "The Baron of An Móir Leautheinn insofar as the Constitution so Requires, in His Capacity to Represent the Viscountcy prior to Abolition of the Judiciary there". The abolition of the judiciary had the effect that there was no formal check on the government anymore through a loophole in the Constitution of An Móir Leautheinn. It also meant that no judicial action could be taken against the Viscountcy, as all lawsuits against the Viscountcy have to be filed in the Viscountcy that is being sued (unless it is a case of Viscountcy v. Viscounty), which was made impossible due to the absence of Court where a lawsuit could be filed against the Viscountcy in the Viscountcy itself. ''Geauinighdh a' Néuibheaidh'' On 3 February 2013, His Lordship's Government reimplemented the former Gléaoinnenoileun tradition of Geauinighdh a' Néuibheaidh with immediate effect. This meant that from that day on, it was legal within the entire Viscountcy to enslave children between the ages of 6 and 21 for all possible purposes, including for servitude, financial gain, and sexual gratification. The implementation caused widespread outrage but was fought against by His Lordship's Government. In a direct response to the implementation of the act, the Viscount refused to sign the act. The Government circumvented this by declaring the Viscount "unfit for work" and implemented the act regardless. As a response, several families with children started fleeing the state and a national outcry against the situation in An Móir Leautheinn was initiated. The federal government, however, was not allowed to interfere in state politics and instead helped people escape from the Viscountcy. As a direct effect of the law, several quickly set up organizations started abducting young children to be used as slaves in services of mostly sexual nature. This caused a public outlash by parents, especially those victimized by the actions. His Lordship's Most Royal Opposition denounced the actions and implementation and were forcibly removed from the Legislature. This caused even more protests to take place around the Legislative Building. Men's Rights Act On 4 February 2013, the Men's Rights Act was passed by His Lordship's Government. This Act read as follows: :(1) Every man is superior to every woman. :(2) It is a man's right to lead a woman. :(3) A woman must be obedient to any man. :(4) It is a man's duty to punish a woman for misconduct as he sees fit. This Act effectively legalized all forms of abuse towards women and stripped them of their rights to free speech and freedom of choice over one's own body. Immediately after the implementation of the Act several organizations went onto the streets and abducted more women and children to use them or sell them into slavery. Brothels were set up to cater for men, in which girls, boys and women as young as 5 or 6 could be found in appalling conditions. According to eye-witness accounts, it was not uncommon to see young boys, girls or women locked up in cages or on leashes, to be sold off or to be "hired" for "personal purposes". As a direct response, the Viscount and His Lordship's Most Loyal Opposition called for everybody to flee the Viscountcy or flee to Gléaoinennoileun. Mass migration The Viscount's and His Lordship's Most Loyal Opposition's calls were followed on a massive scale, and many people fled the Viscountcy immediately, often helped by Confederate and Federal forces to do so. Convoys would protect the fleeing inhabitants, and emergency camps were set up in fields and caves. Gléaoinnenoileun also for the first time in its history let go off its policy of isolationism and allowed refugees to come to the island, providing living space for them in farms and in the Heaoinnighléafhenóigéaoith cave system. The Federal Government of Rockall declared a nationwide state of emergency and let its troops evacuate the Viscountcy as quickly as possible. By 7 February, 2013, the Viscountcy's population had shrunk from more than 432,000 people to 57,000 (Gléaoinnenoileun still included). Approximately 12,000 men willfully stayed; an approximate 31,000 women and children were unable to escape, either through restrictions enforced upon them by government or men, or because of their being abducted. Several smaller baronetcies in Cóste Ígheainne and An Thir na tÁirdteachd tripled, quadrupled or even quintupled in population due to the mass migration. Approximately 20,000 refugees fled to the remaining Viscountcies of An Uinnia, Líchthiach Thiair and the Rockallic Federal District. Confederate forces retreated to the border of An Móir Leautheinn and patrolled it so that nobody could go back in, but allowed residents of the overrun Viscountcy itself to still flee. Viscount and His Lordship's Most Loyal Opposition The Viscount and His Lordship's Most Loyal Opposition all fled the Viscountcy as well after 4 February 2013 to form a "government in exile" located in several towns and cities in An Uinnia. The Viscount and His Lordship's Most Loyal Opposition thus became the de facto government of An Móir Leautheinn in theoria. On 7 February 2013 the Viscount declared His Lordship's Government unlawful, which effectively meant under Article 92 (2) of the Constitution of Rockall that An Móir Leautheinn's status as a Viscountcy of Rockall was revoked and was considered to be hostile territory. It also meant that the Confederate Government would be informed and be requested to take measures. Secession of Gléaoinnenoileun For more information, see: 2013 Secession of Gléaoinnenoileun. On 8 February 2013, in response to the revokal of Viscountcyship of An Móir Leautheinn, the Baronial Council of Gléaoinnenoileun voted unanimously to immediate seceed from the now defunct Viscountcy of Rockall. It also closed its borders with An Móir Leautheinn and remained in open communication with the Federal Government of Rockall. Because the Barony of Gléaoinnenoileun had seceeded from its official Viscountcy but had not been reassigned to another Viscountcy, this became the first time in the history of the Earldom of Rockall that an "independent barony" existed. Basically, a tier of government had been taken away, meaning that certain decisions could not be made as neither the Barony Council nor the Federal Government had the power to make them, whilst there was an absence of the "middle-man": the Viscountcy. Although the status of Gléaoinnenoileun at that moment amounted to a Constitutional crisis on its own in jure, due to the already isolationist nature of the Barony, it was not that much of a problem and there generally was not a lot of attention paid to it. Before the arrrival of the refugees of the Constitutional crisis of An Móir Leautheinn, Gléaoinnenoileun had approximately 7,000 inhabitans. This number more than doubled, as approximately 8,000 refugees fled to the island. The accumulated 15,000 people were taken off the total number of inhabitans in the overrun Viscountcy, lowering the number of remaining inhabitants from 57,000 to 42,000 at the moment of secession. Violation of human rights Under the albeit short rule of the Natural Law First party, countless violations of human rights were recorded. According to estimations, approximately 31,000 women and children were initially held in the Viscountcy to be used as household and sex slaves. This included children and women being traded off on markets and being held in cages or on leashes. Eyewitness accounts have testified that often children and women were regarded as being nothing more than simply pets useful for their ability to gratify men's sexual needs or inabilities in the household. Women and children were tattooed or given burn marks to indicate possession without regards to the physical and emotional pain it could potentially cause them. As a result of these slave-market affairs as well as the degradation of women and children to second-class citizens meant that rape was prone in the defunct Viscountcy. Victims have indicated that they were often raped by up to 50 men a day and by up to 25 men at the same time. This included young children, and several instances were reported of gang rapes of both boys and girls of as young as 3 or 4 years of age. These violations of person often left injuries that could be lethal. Reportedly at least 350 children between the ages of 3 and 21 were killed because of extreme (gang) rape. All women and children within the defunct Viscountcy have provenably been raped or sexually abused. According to estimations, approximately 1,000 people were murdered under the regime. Termination Supreme Court For more information, see: 2012 elections in South (Highlands). Due to the fact that the judiciary had been abolished, nobody had been able to judicially stop the situation, and due to the defunct status of the Viscountcy, the Rockallic Federal District had no power there anymore either. However, the Supreme Court of the Seafaring Confederation has a mandatory 2 weeks before hearing any oral arguments for other interested parties to join a lawsuit. On 9 June 2013, in a similar but far less radical case, the Supreme Court accepted the case Official Opposition of the Legislature of South (Highlands) vs. Official Government of the Legislature of South (Highlands) 23110 989 (2013) 39281 666 7 and initiated the 2-week wait. On 18 June 2013, His Lordship's Most Loyal Opposition decided to join the lawsuit to formally, judicially and legally end the status of the Viscountcy. Oral arguments were heard on 24 June. On 6 July 2013, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that both the State of South (Highlands)'s and the Viscountcy of An Móir Leautheinn's governments had violated the(ir) constitution(s). They had also ruled that His Lordship's Government had violated an earlier Court order and violated the rights of a large amount of people within their jurisdiction. The Supreme Court sentenced All Members of the Natural Law First party sitting in the Legislature to be sentenced to death. Response As a response, the Confederation and the Earldom immediately readied their ground troops and sea troops. A special convoy of the Rockallic Army, RSU-592, entered the area approximately 10 hours before the rest of the troops and the navy initiated an attack. Their mission was to secure areas as unnoticeably as possible, which they managed. Only 5 hours after they had initiated their mission they had two-thirds of An Móir Leautheinn secured, including the capital of Nuardhtheaobhoinn. On 7 July 2013, at 4.10 a.m., Confederate and Rockallic troops initiated a takeover of the defunct Viscountcy. By 7.53 a.m. they had overtaken the entire territory of the defunct Viscountcy and captured the Members of Government. There was no resistance, as the attack came by surprise. RSU-592 had helped by sabotaging several possible defence systems in the area. During the takeover, which lasted approximately 10 hours, the Army and Navy found and rescued countless women and children, a lot of them branded or tattooed, some of them locked in cages, leashed, forced to live in appalling conditions and often physically or mentally broken. They also arrested several thousands slavedrivers, rapists, abusers and traffickers. One group of men was found hiding in an unnamed cave system near An Óibhthreoirr near the border with Cóste Ígheainne, protecting a group of women and children that had been able to escape. Though initially suspected of trafficking, after conversations with both the men and the women and children in the cave system indicated that this was probably the largest helper in the Viscountcy during the crisis. Those who had set up the refugee system in the cave system (both men and women) were later given the highest honour in the Order of the Seas. Several enforcers and traffickers still in the defunct Viscountcy trying to flee were immediately picked up and held by the Army or the Navy. Execution By 8.21 a.m. the troops had rounded up All Members of the Natural Law First party in the Legislature and put them in line in front of the Legislative Building of An Móir Leautheinn. There they were informed of their convictions. At 9.00 a.m. precise All Members of the Natural Law First party were publically executed on the spot. Several eyewitnesses state that some Members were trembling, others crying and others claiming they were feeling remorse. However, by extent of the Constitution of the Seafaring Confederation the Constitution of Rockall clearly states that remorse in a crime as heinous that it is deservant of death under Article 45 (Death penalty) of the Confederate Constitution cannot be used to receive a reduced sentence. Aftermath Criminal convictions The Attorney-General of the Seafaring Confederation immediately initiated a mission to punish everybody involved in the crisis. By August 2013, 12,491 people, all of them men above the age of 21, had been convicted of an arrange of crimes. Of these, 3,222 received prison sentences ranging from 12 to 15 years for non-sexual abuse for personal gain of other people; 3,967 received life sentences for physical and mental abuse of minors and women; 5,302 people were sentenced to death and subsequently executed on convictions of rape, sexual abuse, premeditated murder and human trafficking with the intention to sell them for sexual actions. Counselling The Departments of Health of the Seafaring Confederation and Rockall initiated a cooperative effort to help the victims of the crisis. The victims received free treatment and were brought to safe and trustable environments. They were given counselling and psychiatric support for free. Most of the victims were reportedly scarred for life. Descriptions of the effects of the crisis range from distrust of surroundings to an inability to recognize stimuli from outside to complete mental disarrange. A majority of the victims described having nightmares and sleeping problems, whilst another large number of them showed signs of fear towards men in general, even little boys. As of July 2014, counselling for these people is still ongoing. A couple of hundreds of them have been released after having been found able to live relatively normally again, although these people are still following irregular counselling and may be checked upon if so considered necessary. Suicides As of July 2014, between 100 and 250 people are estimated to have committed suicide as a direct result of the crisis. All of these sucicide victims were victims of the crisis, often having undergone severe sexual, physical and emotional abuse. Of those who committed suicide, between 40% and 65% were under the age of 18. The Departments of Health actively try to prevent suicide insofar as they are allowed to do so within the limits of the law (the right to termination of one's own life is a basic right set out in the Constitution). Legacy The crisis has left a mark on the history of the nation and is currently used as an example for why the Confederate Government needs to get more involved with local governments to ensure that its laws are abided to. The crisis has been described as one of the severest constitutional crises in modern history, mostly due to the physhological and socio-political effects it has had on thousands of people. The Confederate Government has officially described it as: :The 2013 Constitutional crisis of An Móir Leautheinn has served to remind us that even within our borders there are still extremists lurking to take over our society and challenge constitutional liberties and freedoms. These extremists have no regard for anybody other than themselves. This crisis shall live on in the minds of the people and of the government; it shall never be forgotten. The Natural Law First party also had local charters in the other Viscountcies, but these, in response to the situation in An Móir Leautheinn, decided to dissolve themselves. Members from other Viscountcies distances themselves explicitly from the actions undertaken by their rogue counterpart. An official statement was given by them: :We do not in any way agree or suppport the atrocious crimes committed by our Charter in An Móir Leautheinn. We distance ourselves explicitly and unreservedly from all actions they have carried out, and we will, out of shame of association and out of condemnation of their actions, dissolve our party completely. After consideration by the Government of Rockall, in the deliberations of which the ex-Members of the Natural Law First party were also included, it was decided that the Natural Law First party would be made illegal in Rockall, and by extent, after approval received by the Confederate Government, in the rest of the Seafaring Confederation. Response Domestic Domestic response was one of shock and disbelief. All political parties condemnded the actions that had taken place in An Móir Leautheinn, with every party leader giving an official statement of condemnation in behalf of their party. The Green Right, NPR, Social-Democrats and Liberal parties each wrote a separate statement condemning the crisis and offering support to the victims, as well as a joint statement as the official government of the Earldom. In addition, the Green Left, Labour, Socialist and Reformed parties, the Party for Animal Rights, the Christian-Democrats and Liberal-Democrats issued a joint statement condemning the crisis and the actions, as well as expressed support for the victims. They also all issued their own statements on behalf of their respective parties. The Independent caucus issued a statement on the behalf of the caucus as a whole. There was cross-party support for unreserved and free aid for the victims of the crisis. On 9 July 2013, the House of Commons of Rockall and the House of Lords of Rockall voted 200-0 and 931-0 to provide free medical and psychological support to the victims of the crisis and to ensure that they were to be housed in a safe environment. Confederate House of Representatives and the High Council The House of Representatives and the High Council of the Seafaring Confederation both separately issued a statement condemning the situation and pledging to support the victims. All parties signed the statements. 2013 was officially an election year for the Members National, but in order to be able to collectively respond to the situation and to allow the Viscountcy to settle down again, it was decided the 2013 election would be moved to 9 July 2014 and that the next bunch of Representatives would sit for five instead of six years. The Confederate Government decided that all victims were to be granted a sum of kr.1,230,000 (US$2,092,890.01). It also offered free counselling, free home reparations, free protection in the form of extra police if requested, and survivor benefits of kr.4,000 (US$7,486.76) per month. The Confederate Government also decided to oversee local governments to a greater extent. This meant that within months after the crisis had ended, the Seafaring Confederation now had a Representative Extraordinary of the Seafaring Confederation in every form of local government. Leaders The Leaders of the Seafaring Confederation also issued a statement on their behalf condemning the situation and supporting the victims. They coordinated the efforts in both the House and the Council for aid to the victims. Category:2013 Constitutional crisis of An Móir Leautheinn Category:Seafaring Confederation